Exciting new avenues of research and policy drive expansion of HIV treatment access, AIDS conference hears

The unwillingness of the global AIDS community to accept the status quo is fuelling a new era of scientific innovation to drive novel ways of treating and preventing HIV, organizers of the XVIII International AIDS Conference taking place in Vienna, Austria, said yesterday.

Moreover, with millions of lives dependent on expanding access to antiretroviral treatment to all those clinically in need, researchers and clinicians are partnering in new ways to find the most effective and efficient methods to deliver treatment and strengthen health systems. A new Medicines Patent Pool described at the plenary session also offers the possibility of broader access to more effective and less toxic regimens.

"The inspiring element of the conference so far has been the marriage of cutting edge science and innovative policy and programming," said Brigitte Schmied, AIDS 2010 local Co-chairperson and president of the Austrian AIDS Society. "We need that same energy and creativity to break through the HIV-related stigma and discrimination that prevents too many from benefitting from the knowledge we already have about how to save lives," she noted.